Some simple ways to restore immersion in WoW

People are suggesting complex ways to make the game more immersive and more enjoyable. I don't believe that. I think the method to make WoW more immersive is actually very simple.

1. Restore class specific quests

Few things were more immersive than me being a Shaman and going around the world to commune with the elements. Granted some quests were tedious, but speaking with the various elementals really connected me to my class and made me feel special, and part of a larger world. Blizzard really needs to restore these aspects to the game.

2. Race specific quests

If I'm a Night Elf, I'd like to feel like my experience in the game is unique only to my race. You definitely get some of this in isolated starter zones, but I'd like to see it spread throughout your leveling experience and even at max level.

3. Race specific abilities

When I first played as a priest, I thought it was pretty cool how Night Elf priests got Star Shards and Forsaken got Plaque. I think Blizzard should bring back this feature, but only make the differences cosmetic. For example, you can have the spell do the same thing, but just have a different icon and animation. Sort of how Heroism/Bloodlust works among Shaman. This would give each race a bit of flavor, even if it really doesn't mean anything on the DPS meters.

The thing people don't seem to understand is that none of what you suggested is simple. You're like people suggesting all these "easy" fixes to class balance or raids or pvp. You really think it's as easy as "Oh just write up some quest text and there you go!"? Not only is it not nearly as easy as that, but class/race quests and abilities all take time away from NEW development. Blizzard doesn't want to go back and add level 10 class/race quests when they could use the people who design those quests for other things like the next patch or two.

All of that is well and good but none of it will restore immersion. That genie is out of the bottle. Your bigger than the game now. You've seen the man behind the curtain and he isn't a wizard, he's a 40 year old game developer from texas.

Last edited by Glorious Leader; 2013-05-12 at 07:07 PM.

The hammer comes down:

Originally Posted by Osmeric

Normal should be reduced in difficulty. Heroic should be reduced in difficulty.
And the tiny fraction for whom heroic raids are currently well tuned? Too bad,so sad! With the arterial bleed of subs the fastest it's ever been, the vanity development that gives you guys your own content is no longer supportable.

Don't blame the casuals for making Warcraft worse. It's the unskilled masses who refuse to improve themselves and Blizzard who has decided to bribe these folks with an endless shower of purples that should draw the ire of both casual and hardcore alike. It was never about "seeing the content" for these people it's always been about the gear and their sense of entitlement.

The thing people don't seem to understand is that none of what you suggested is simple. You're like people suggesting all these "easy" fixes to class balance or raids or pvp. You really think it's as easy as "Oh just write up some quest text and there you go!"? Not only is it not nearly as easy as that, but class/race quests and abilities all take time away from NEW development. Blizzard doesn't want to go back and add level 10 class/race quests when they could use the people who design those quests for other things like the next patch or two.

Stop suggesting "simple" ways and look at the bigger picture.

Its simple in terms of general game design. It would also potentially make the leveling process more enjoyable, and make people feel more immersed by their class and race selection. Seriously, how much effort would it take to reskin some abilities and add a couple of quests? Frankly I think Blizzard did more than that in patch 5.2.

Could do it on a non raid patch, since they generally have less overall new content added to them than a raid patch like 2.4, 4.2 and 5.2 did, with a new raid, an entire new zone with lots and lots of dailies that are unlocked over time.

My name is Cernunnos, I will love you like no other, I have died a thousand deaths, each time I died I thought of you.

I do miss the warlock quests for getting your minions, and some for gear. They weren't very exciting, but they helped with immersion for sure.
Or the druid shapeshift quests, even though they where simple and straight forward.

By no means do I demand any class quests to be like the current green fire one, and frankly I think they focused way to much on the ebonlocke fight and kinda messed up the rest. It felt rushed, which is ironic since they delayed it for 1 or 2 patches.

Also Blizz could make things more let's say hard-to-figure because right now, everything in game is just so easy to understand in terms of PvE. The game gives you almost everything. There are no hidden quests, or rewards that encourages wandering around. Quests are god damn routines. You take quest, quest helper shows you you pew pew the mobs and get the reward. Everything is overexpressed to players. Content like hidden caves with cool/fun vanity items, achievements etc. is easy to create I think. Also they could implement some system like ES where you don't get quest as long as you do not communicate(not right clicking) with NPC.

Also Blizz could make things more let's say hard-to-figure because right now, everything in game is just so easy to understand in terms of PvE. The game gives you almost everything. There are no hidden quests, or rewards that encourages wandering around. Quests are god damn routines. You take quest, quest helper shows you you pew pew the mobs and get the reward. Everything is overexpressed to players. Content like hidden caves with cool/fun vanity items, achievements etc. is easy to create I think. Also they could implement some system like ES where you don't get quest as long as you do not communicate(not right clicking) with NPC.

Mist of Pandaria rares are defiantly worth hunting and I don't know 90% of their locations. Even if blizzard did sites like mmo champion, wowhead, and youtube would have videos about them the next day. They added a lot of the stuff. You were talking about in mist those rares drop mirrors that can copy another players appearance for 5 minutes. Theirs even items that do what the potion of treasure finding did in cata. You have a random chance when killing a mob to have it spawn a pile of gold worth 25 gold. A lot of those rares have one shots as well so they aren't total push overs and are long fights you don't win in 5 seconds. They even added secret dailies to the first few dailies released in Mist. I had to google for a couple otherwise, I would have completely missed them. You can turn quest helper off btw.

Last edited by worsthitmanNa; 2013-05-13 at 12:34 AM.

You're right except for 2 things.

1. My name is spelt "God" not "Loucious-sama".
2. I'm not a man, because man is inherently flawed. I am in fact a being so far beyond your comprehension that archaic constraints like flesh, blood, time and consequently, gender, have no meaning to me.

Yh sure why not =)? But I think better yet would be to not only add what u say in OP but also create a sort of layered questline for each level(meaning not all quests are accessible in a particular lvl and zone and you can only take a set of quests based on your actions, reactions and choices). Similar to KOTOR

Blizzard brought some of this back with the Monk class in MoP, so there is hope that it can be reintroduced in the future.

Also some class specific weapons would be nice as well, like the Keg staffs and polearms that Monks get in their temple area in Pandaria.

But the main thing that bugs me is that all classes regardless of race get the exact same abilities and icons except Shaman Bloodlust. I would love it if Tauren Paladins actually had their Paladins renamed with Sunwalker abilities. They can do the same thing as standard paladin abilities, but give it a Sunwalker name, and animation. It would just be cool.

People are suggesting complex ways to make the game more immersive and more enjoyable. I don't believe that. I think the method to make WoW more immersive is actually very simple.

3. Race specific abilities

When I first played as a priest, I thought it was pretty cool how Night Elf priests got Star Shards and Forsaken got Plaque. I think Blizzard should bring back this feature, but only make the differences cosmetic. For example, you can have the spell do the same thing, but just have a different icon and animation. Sort of how Heroism/Bloodlust works among Shaman. This would give each race a bit of flavor, even if it really doesn't mean anything on the DPS meters.

Thoughts?

I realy realy like this idea. Like how blood knights used to have different stuff to normal pallies. Sunwalkers, blood knights and knights of the silver hand should all have different named and animated abilities.